I have noticed that several on here are in the process of adopting. Me and my husband have been interested in adopting for awhile now and I have no idea where to start. We would really like a small child from another country(outside US). We have a DD 17 and DS 11 and they love the idea also. Any help would be appreciated!!
We adopted our son, age 6 at the time, three years ago from China. We went through Bethany Christian Services. We were very pleased with them. Blessings on your journey. It will change your life.
We have four children from China. Two of them were 2 years old when we got them and the newst ones were 3 years old. We have used Lifeline Children’s Services for three of the four and have been happy with them. Adotion will change your life. It is a wonderful journey even if it holds lot of challenges. Blessings to you and your family.
We have four children (three bio, and one adopted). We used Wide Horizons for Children for our adoption, because our heart was set on adopting from Korea. There were no other agencies that worked in our state to adopt from Korea. WHCF was excellent.
We have three bio children (9, 7, 4) and one adopted from Gambella, Ethiopia. Our agency was International Adoption Net out of Denver, Colorado. We adopted our son when he was between 4 and 6. He’s been home 2 years this August. Adoption is not for the faint-of-heart. 😉 It’s been a blessed and harrowing journey. Not all adoptions are what you envision or expect, but we’d do it again in a minute. God’s redemption through adoption is magical even when the road there is anguishing.
I agree with erin.kate completely. Our children have streched us more than we thought humanly possible and these children no matter what are hurting and have dark past. It will make you a completely differnet person and grow like you never thought possible. Our two oldest 6 & 5 struggle with shame, guilt and anger, but we are seeing the Lord take their hurt and bring beauty.
My 2 youngest are adopted from foster care. We have close friends who have done interntional adoptions as well and we were very involved in the process. Adoption is a beautiful thing, and as others have stated it can come with tremendous challenges as well. As you prayerfully consider your options I would encourage you to start to learn about the issues of many if not most international and foster care adoptees. A great place to start with that is the book Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Grey http://www.amazon.com/dp/1849058903
If you find international adoption to be too costly I would suggest you to take another look at foster care/adoption. Sometimes you can have so much more information on the child’s background and it is invaluable.
We are in the process of adopting domestically through Bethany Christian Services. They are a wonderful agency and help you through every step. If you are serious about adopting please pray for God’s guidance and direction. We started out internationally through another agency and after a year with them and not getting anywhere we knew that was not God’s plan for our family. We switched to Bethany in October and everything, so far, has fallen right into place. We are sure that God wants us to adopt domesticallty and He has blessed us with all the money we needed at just the right time. We are actually having a match meeting with a expectant mother this Friday.
I adopted from Russia (now closed to the US) and used KidsFirst in Indianna. Adoption (especially international adoption) is not for the faint of heart as mentioned above. May God bless you in your journey. Adoption is so worth it (although my son’s sensory issues, hyperactivity, meltdowns, combative behavior) have almost caused me to lose my mind at times, but when he tells me I am the best mommy in the world and when he sneaks out of his best at night and slips into my bed and snuggles with me, I know it is worth it!
We are in the process of adopting through the foster care system in GA. We are using Bethany Christian Services to do our training/homestudy/matching. We have 3 bio kids now (5, 3 and 1) and are hoping to adopt 2-3 more. We have been happy with Bethany so far.